Black Truffled Deviled Eggs with Black Salt

Also known as ... "Another Excuse to Use Truffle Oil" Installment #4 

One of my friends - Trish, who is also a foodie, recently was outlining her experience eating at Ocean Prime in detail. For those who are also enamored with food, this would be no surprise as most of us to engage in what we call "food porn". In case you don't aren't familiar with this term, it means we talk about food, take photos of the food, live to try the food. . . etc etc etc. In any event she began to detail the truffled deviled eggs that are an appetizer on the menu. Really, once she said "truffled" she had my full undivided attention. Truffles! Truffled oil? Well that sounded simply fabulous and another way to use that new bottle of truffle oil I recently purchased. For a while the two of us tried to imagine what could be in the recipe (keep in mind I hadn't even tried them) and then realized that the Internet could give us an idea of what to put in to make this treat. 

I combed a few recipes and then came up with my own spin on this small plate. Please note that Ocean Prime's appetizer contains white truffle oil and caviar. I don't have caviar in the house on a regular basis (um maybe I have never purchased it at all) and I wanted to use black truffle oil. I have not tried theirs to compare but I imagine they are simply delicious. In any event, here's my take:

Black Truffled Deviled Eggs with Black Salt

Recipe:

One dozen eggs

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sour cream

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard

1 Tablespoon Black Truffled Oil (yes, you can use white)

Black Salt for garnish

Egg Piercer Contraption

So let's start with the eggs. I always have to refer back to how long to cook them so here's the refresher. First I use this handy dandy egg piercer. I have had the same one for about 15 years. When you press the egg (raw) on the little depression, it makes a small pinhole in the bottom of the egg which is designed to release pressure and result in less broken/cracked eggs when you boil them. I think it does work because we typically have all eggs survive. Put the eggs gently in the pot with enough cold water to cover them, about an inch higher than the eggs, and place on a high flame. Once the eggs come to a boil, remove from heat and cover, for 12 1/2 minutes. Why 12 1/2? Well I read one reference that said 13 and another that said 12 so I split the difference. They came out just fine so I'm sticking with 12 1/2 minutes.

You can see those faint ripples in action. . . air escaping from those pinholes.

Immediately drain hot water and replace with running cold water. Some instructions say to use ice but I find the immediate temperature change leads to cracking eggs and I prefer to cool a little more gradually. Once completely cooled (or you can put in fridge and wait until the next day), roll the eggs to start a crack and begin to peel. I find running cold water on them as you peel is helpful. I will also admit that I hate this part and am completely bored and not patient enough and some eggs have deep scars on them when I begin to rip the shell off. I can guarantee that the restaurant's version of this is much prettier.

Whipping Yolks = Divine Deviled Eggs

Once your eggs are peeled, half them lengthwise and take out the yolks. Place the yolks in a food processor with the mayonnaise, sour cream, cayenne and seasonings and pulse them. Now I know I sound so smart but for years I did not do this. I have been a savage mashing this stuff together with a fork and I can tell you now I have learned my lesson. These yolks were so light and airy. It made a HUGE difference. I will never ever mash with a fork again. It is barbaric.

I really did pipe them!
Photo credit to my son as I can't take a pic of my own hand!

Drizzle the truffled oil into your whipped egg yolks slowly and taste. Now the amount of truffled oil to use could be a serious debate. There are so many factors and each batch of oil is different in its potency. I may have put a tiny bit more than a Tablespoon in but it's a good place to start. Once you taste and approve, scoop the mixture into a Ziploc bag and cut a small corner. I figured if I already whipped these yolks and put the truffled oil in I might as well pipe the yolks back into the egg whites. We have some time invested in these eggs and they are fancy. 

Now of course my eggs are not perfect and I could have focused on one or two real beauties to showcase this recipe. Honestly, looking online other deviled eggs look perfect. I really want to know how many dozen eggs go into that to get those few treasures. In any event, in case you are counting we are missing two halves on this plate. It was not on purpose. One egg half was lost in a freak accident involving gravity and the other egg white half was snatched by a little girl.

Black Salt:
Poor Man's Caviar?

Well they looked pretty to me and ready to eat but I did not want to stop here especially since we did not have caviar to garnish with. Black salt looked pretty darn good for this as well. But as usual taste is pretty high on the deciding factors of approval. I should note that the 7 year old girl who lives here (my daughter) was intrigued by these pretty little gems and asked to try one. She promptly returned to eat the equivalent of 2 and a half eggs so I think they were pretty good. As she doesn't like "spice" I would say the level of cayenne pepper with an 1/8 of teaspoon is pretty mild and I would add a little more next time.